Of all the things that cause damage to your windows, animals are the worst. They run through them, scratch them up, and bend the frames by trying to go through them. While most of the time you can’t prevent them from damaging your window screens, there are steps you can take to decrease the chance you will lose one of your window screens to animal damage.
Don’t Feed the Animals by the Window
Most people don’t think about the location where they feed animals, either domestic or wild. But if you feed any type of animal near your window it can lead to future trouble. First, animals that are fed near a window have a greater chance of trying to go through the window screen in search of more food if you aren’t there when they are hungry. They connect you coming to window with food and when you aren’t there they go in search of it; which usually means through the window.
Two, if you have indoor pets and you are feeding outside animals by the windows you are asking for your window screens to be damaged. For smaller indoor pets such as birds and rodents, you are drawing the attention of the outside animals to them and eventually the outside animals are going to try and go through the window screen to get them. For indoor and outdoor animals that are the same size, that thin mesh material is the only thing standing between a potential territorial dispute.
Feeding smaller outdoor animals, such as birds, brings them close to your windows and to the stalking attention of any cats you may have. One attempted pounce and you may or may not have a window screen left.
Out of Reach Window Screens
Pets like to be near open windows. They are naturally drawn by the fresh air, and the open window brings the sights and sounds of the outdoors closer to them. They can sometimes get so wrapped up with what they are experiencing outside that they scratch at the window screen in an attempt to get out.
If your cat has scratched through their share of window screens, it is time to make it harder for them to get to the screens at all. You can do this by removing anything they use to jump on to get to the window. If you have windows that can open from the bottom or the top, open the top, so they can’t get up to the screen. You can also place heavy, sturdy objects where they normally sit or lay next to the open window to prevent them from getting there or getting comfortable.
Install Stronger Screens
Installing a stronger window screen, like our TruScene Insect Screen, will make it harder for your pets to break or scratch through them. TruScene Insect Screens are made of a steel mesh that makes them more durable than other regular window screens and more pet resistant.
